K20 Learn
Filling Our Land with Landfills: Solid Waste Disposal
Though it comprises only 5 percent of the world's population, the US generates 40 percent of the world's waste. Scholars learn about landfills, their safety, and other solid waste methods. They use experiments and research to learn more....
Core Knowledge Foundation
Taking Care of the Earth Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
A read-aloud anthology closely examines human impact on the Earth while boosting reading comprehension skills. Through stories, scholars examine the concepts of natural resources, pollution, garbage, and recycling and brainstorm ways to...
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Waste and Recycling: Recycling and Energy Recovery
Reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover. Young environmentalists learn about the overwhelming amount of garbage produced and discover better ways to minimize their impact on Earth by learning the difference between garbage and recyclables.
Cal Recycle
Conserving Natural Resources
Trying to plan an engaging elementary science unit on natural resources? Conserve your energy! This five-part series of lessons and hands-on activities has exactly what you need to teach young scholars about the importance of conservation.
Teach Engineering
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of several garbage patches around the world where garbage accumulates naturally. As part of a GIS unit that combines oceanography, environmental science, and life science, class members investigate...
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Environmental Sciences
Whether you are teaching environmental science in junior high or studying recycling in kindergarten, there is something for all in this set of lessons designed for environmental education. The 110-page packet comes with tips for teaching...
PBS
Waste Audit
Does everything in the trash can belong there? Conduct a waste audit with your class by collecting a day's worth of garbage, separating it into recyclables, non-recyclables, or food waste, and properly distributing what they find into...
PBS
Blow the Roof Off!
Blow the minds of young scientists with this collection of inquiry-based investigations. Based on a series of eight videos, these "hands-on, minds-on" science lessons engage young learners in exploring a wide range of topics from making...
Dr. Seuss Enterprises
The Lorax's Classroom Recycling Signs
Here are two fun and attractive displays that you can use in your classroom to identify the trash and recycling bins.
Curated OER
The Trash We Pass
Where does our garbage go? What is the difference between a recyclable and non-recyclable item? Pose these important, but often overlooked, questions to your class and invite them to consider the lasting and damaging effects of the...
Curated OER
Where Is Away?
Students explore garbage. In this landfill lesson, students investigate how much garbage is collected in landfills on average each day. Students discover hazardous materials that are disposed of improperly and the effects of these...
Curated OER
Clean Up Hazardous Waste!
Students identify sources of home hazardous waste and create posters to educate the community about how to handle hazardous wastes.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Good Litter, Bad Litter
Which ones can be thrown on the ground? Discover the difference between natural litter and unhealthy trash, helping scholars by using several examples. Use the information here to give them a basic background, but also encourage prior...
Curated OER
Related Lessons Break It
Students brainstorm about the kinds of things that they use at home and school each day. They consider the types of materials out of which these things are made. Keep a list of their repsonses on a large sheet of paper or on the blackboard.
Curated OER
Litter Crusade
Litter, garbage, and pollution are all addressed in a nice lesson on waste and recycling. Learners discuss what litter is and how it affects the environment. Then, they sing a song about eliminating litter before going out on campus to...
Curated OER
Garbage Plants
Students create plants out of garbage. They identify items that can be recycled and discuss natural resources. They share their creation with the class.
Curated OER
Recycling in Palm Beach County
Students investigate the recycling program in Palm Beach County. In this recycling lesson, students discuss how garbage is processed and identify the proper color-coded bins to place recyclables in.
Curated OER
Erase Waste
Young scholars brainstorm a list of objects that are thrown in the trash each day and come up with alternative uses for the trash. They design a 3-D poster to display their ideas to recycle and reuse items creately to personally erase...
Curated OER
School Yard Waste
Fourth graders examine the types of garbage that they collect on the playground. They collect the information in a spreadsheet and create a graph that displays the number of types of trash found. They design and monitor a playground...
Curated OER
Recycling/Solid Waste Education with Shel Silverstein: "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout"
Both poetry analysis and waste disposal are more engaging topics for young readers with a activity to accompany the Shel Silverstein poem 'Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out" from Where the Sidewalk Ends. Not only...
Curated OER
Waste Management
Four different activities focus on the amount of trash generated and how humans can better manage waste. Learners analyze two days' worth of household garbage, test materials for biodegradability, and rate recyclability of various...
Curated OER
Talking Trash
Define vocabulary related to global waste. Creative thinkers review and illustrate terms for the Global Garbage Picture Dictionary. They play a vocabulary game in which co-operative skills among players in encouraged. A great way to...
Curated OER
Where is Away?
Focusing on where are garbage goes once we dispose of it, learners explore environmental concerns. Using a clear format, this lesson leads learners through a discussion of waste reduction, recycling, and composting. Then, they discuss...
Curated OER
After the Garbage Can: Where Does Our Trash Go?
Learners explore how waste disposal has changed over time and what the current issues are. In this disposal instructional activity students collect data and create graphs.